Well what a busy week i've had. Took a week of work & have ended up more tired than if i had gone to work.
Been out rambling again & ended up bringing home MORE crabapples. So deciced to get busy and do more preserving. Decided to try making crabapple & rosehip jelly & was pretty pleased with the results. Used a very diy method:
Jelly bag was made from an offcut of nylon net curtain!
Suspended said jelly bag from an old veg rack with garden string! Must post ...

The bad weather is preventing me from doing a thing towards transforming the garden , so i've been busy in the kitchen again.
Today i made apple & blackberry jam, it's the first time me or the OH have made jam so pretty impressed when it turned out right & set perfectly first time
What made me really happy tho is that other then the £1.50 for the sugar the jam was totally free. Blackberries picked from the garden & local countryside. Apples kindly donated from the family ...

After knackering my knees doing too much running, i've opted for a nice quiet day making homemade goodies. Todays makes will be:
1. Horse chesnut tincture, to be made into a gel in a months time. Great for varicose veins, spider veins, tired swollen legs after flying/standing too long

2. Hot Hedgerow Chutney, recipe from the forum. Making now to give a xmas pressies to the foodies in my family

3. Snickerdoodles, again recipe from the forum. Cause they sound yummy, ...

Hallelujah for the good weather yet again i've been tackling those brambles and i'm glad to say i can finally walk from one end of the garden to the other without a machete . The added bonus being that i now have 2kg of blackberries in the deep freeze, 3kg of rosehips and my lovely neighbour gave me 1kg of windfall apples so yum yum hedgerow chutney & jam on it's way.

Now that i can actually see the garden i've realised how big it really is & i am a liittle overwhelmed ...

A day off work & no rain means another journey into the hell that is the garden.
Armed with wellies, thick gloves & pruning shears i shall enter the land that time has forgot & hope i return. On days like this i remind myself of the plans we have drawn up & imagine the beautiful veg plot that awaits me. Until then i pacify myself with a nibble of the massive juicy blackberries that are in abundance. I have had to take to wearing purple nail varnish to disguise the staining ...